Stained glass and Saint Anthony

The weather today was so crisp it beckoned. We went on a long, meandering walk, from 18th Street and 7th Avenue down to Houston and finally Lafayette. We spied strange corset art made from old chairs, packed beauty stores, endless windows of shoes, handbags, and jewels, cafes, and thousands of people. We popped into a bookstore and got a hot dog on the street (pretzel for veggie Matt.)

The highlight was the Jefferson Market Library. Its round tower makes it look like a church from afar. Up close, one reads that it used to be the main courthouse for women, until the early 1900s, and then became a public library.

Like all NYC public libraries, it was packed; there were lines to check out books and it was barely quiet. The architecture thrilled me, but I easily got goosebumps imagining the female prisoners, in heavy dress, climbing the stairs, passing through doorways, and waiting for their day in court.

The stained glass in the slim rotunda was the best of all.

(This is Saint Anthony of Padua. He was nowhere near the library. I believe we came across him somewhere in SoHo. It’s surprising to see the light come out blue–it seemed quite golden whilst we were walking in it.)